An assessment of the formulation of permit conditions associated with environmental authorisations and implications for compliance monitoring

Environmental impact assessment is a widely accepted planning tool used in environmental management. Internationally it has been adopted as a formal permitting requirement for development projects in many jurisdictions. Historically the focus has been on the pre-decision making stages of environmental impact assessment. It has, however, been widely acknowledged that post-decision environmental impact assessment follow-up is an important component in confirming initial predictions, enabling responsible adaptive management of environmental impacts and ensuring compliance with permit conditions. It is this last function which is the focus of this study. Specifically, the role of permit conditions in enabling compliance and facilitating compliance monitoring is addressed. Permit conditions of twenty-one environmental authorisations were examined and tested for conformance with legislated requirements, and practicality of monitoring for compliance (monitorability). It was found that there are many contributors to achieving monitorable permit conditions. Amongst the most significant of these are conformity in interpretation of the regulations specifying permit content by officials, gaps in guidance on the part of the regulations themselves, and a tendency to focus on construction related impacts. The lack of clarity regarding the roles and functions of environmental control officer and environmental auditor further contribute to poor monitorability of permit conditions. Specific areas of shortcoming and best practice in the permit conditions analysed were identified and discussed. Finally, recommendations are made for the improvement of permit condition monitorability

What Mothers Want: Welfare Reform and Maternal Desire

In this study I use participant observations,face-to-face interviews, and focus group interviews to examine how women on welfare read and negotiate culture-of-poverty discourse and the imagery that this discourse spawns. I spoke with two groups of young single mothers receiving welfare. The first group included young mothers between the ages of 18 and 23 who were attending high school in a community-based program that served women on welfare. The second group included mothers in their early to mid 20\u27s who were attending either a local two-year college or research university. Education was a path of resistance for the women in this study. Young single mothers were motivated to obtain an education; they wanted a better life for their child. As students, women were situated in a status that allowed them to reject the attributes associated with dominant welfare imagery. Women forged identities against the grain of dominant images that depict all women on welfare as lazy women and bad mothers. The students in this study made a claim to characteristics like hard work, motivation, and good parenting. Yet, students did not fully reject cultureof- poverty discourse. Their identities as students were situated in a form of oppositional thinking that set them against other women on welfare

Phonological Behavior in Toddlers With Slow Expressive Language Development

Toddlers with slow expressive language development were compared to normally speaking age-mates on three global measures of phonological behavior: the average level of complexity of their syllable structures, the number of different consonant phonemes produced, and the percentage of consonants correctly produced in intelligible utterances. The groups were found to differ significantly on all three variables. Further analyses were done, breaking the groups down into narrower age ranges. These comparisons also revealed differences between late-talking and normal youngsters. Detailed analyses of the range of phonemes and syllable structures produced, as well as the appearance of phoneme classes within syllable structures and positions, revealed that late talkers showed a delayed rather than a deviant pattern of phonological development. The implications of these findings for identifying and monitoring expressive delay in toddlers are discussed

Social and emotional learning for educators

Teacher quality has become a top priority of the global agenda to improve student academic achievement and behaviour (MacBeath, 2012), and to prepare the world’s children for a global economy (Schleicher, 2016). Education is an essential human right recognised by the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which emphasises that “Education shall be directed to the full development of the human personality and to the strengthening of respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms. It shall promote understanding, tolerance and friendship among all nations, racial or religious groups, and shall further the activities of the United Nations for the maintenance of peace” (Article 26(2)). It is noteworthy that – despite vast differences in goals, resources, and educational system infrastructure – all U.N. Nations recognise the vital role that schools play in supporting the development of key social emotional competencies such as tolerance, respect and understanding. Teachers play a vital role in shaping if, and how, this international vision for education is to be achieved

Helen Matthews Lewis: Living Social Justice in Appalachia

Often referred to as the leader of inspiration in Appalachian studies, Helen Matthews Lewis linked scholarship with activism and encouraged deeper analysis of the region. Lewis shaped the field of Appalachian studies by emphasizing community participation and challenging traditional perceptions of the region and its people. Helen Matthews Lewis: Living Social Justice in Appalachia, a collection of Lewis’s writings and memories that document her life and work, begins in 1943 with her job on the yearbook staff at Georgia State College for Women with Mary Flannery O’Connor. Editors Patricia D. Beaver and Judith Jennings highlight the achievements of Lewis’s extensive career, examining her role as a teacher and activist at Clinch Valley College (now University of Virginia at Wise) and East Tennessee State University in the 1960s, as well as her work with Appalshop and the Highland Center. Helen Matthews Lewis connects Lewis’s works to wider social movements by examining the history of progressive activism in Appalachia. The book provides unique insight into the development of regional studies and the life of a dynamic revolutionary, delivering a captivating and personal narrative of one woman’s mission of activism and social justice. Helen Matthews Lewis has served as the director of the Berea College Appalachian Center, Appalshop’s Appalachian History Film Project, and the Highlander Research and Education Center. She is coauthor of Mountain Sisters: From Convent to Community in Appalachia and Colonialism in Modern America: The Appalachian Case. Patricia D. Beaver, director of the Center for Appalachian Studies and professor of anthropology at Appalachian State University, is coeditor of Tales from Sacred Wind: Coming of Age in Appalachia. Judith Jennings, executive director of the Kentucky Foundation for Women, is the author of Gender, Religion, and Radicalism in the Long Eighteenth Century: The “Ingenious Quaker” and Her Connections. This book will be welcomed by those of us who found in Helen a role model who combines the life of the mind, the thirst for social justice, and the wisdom of soulful humor. For those others who are looking for such a role model have you made a discovery!”—Richard A. Couto, editor of Political and Civic Leadership: A Reference Handbook This rich collection of memories, photographs, commentaries, and archival documents is an exemplary weave of history and biography—the lived story of Appalachian social movements over much of the twentieth century. The sweeping chronicle of Helen Lewis’s actions and words reveals how she continues to make history by living social justice and refusing to capitulate to unjust power. The lessons could not be more timely, instructive, and inspiring. --Barbara Ellen Smith, author of Neither Separate Nor Equal: Women, Race and Class in the South It is one thing to speak truth to power. Helen does that with intelligence and wit -- to southern segregationists, coal companies, and academic institutions. It’s another thing to speak truth with the powerless. On nearly every page of this wonderful book, Helen combines her commitment to those who lack power with trust in their agency. She breaks into the unruly and uncontainable, and wraps \u27the belt of truth around our waist.\u27 --Anne Lewis, director of Morristown: in the air and sun In showcasing Helen Matthews Lewis, Beaver and Jennings remind us that an individual impassioned to do the right thing will make a positive difference. . . . the editors have also offered us Lewis\u27 legacy as a challenge to examine our own roles vis-a-vis committing to transform our communities. --Courier-Journal Lewis has achieved the status of an icon among Appalachian activists and scholars. . . . An important book. --Appalachian Heritage “Brings together in one volume Lewis’s many contributions to Appalachian Studies. . . . The book reveals the breadth and depth of scholarship and activism in Appalachia and will no doubt become a classic.”--West Virginia History “Provides a more intimate insight into her life and her impact on people and society than a more formal portrait could. . . . Recommended.”--Choice A fitting tribute to a woman who deserves greater acknowledgment and appreciation for her lifetime of work in Appalachia and for the betterment of struggling communities everywhere...The work is a success. -- Joseph Witt- -- Journal of Agricultural and Environmental Ethics Winner of the Appalachian Writers Association’s Book of the Year Award for Nonfictionhttps://uknowledge.uky.edu/upk_appalachian_studies/1028/thumbnail.jp

Untold Perspectives: The Impact of the Closure of a Health Institution in a Black Community in North St. Louis County

Based on the literature of social determinants of health, health equity, and anchor institutions, it is evident that hospitals have a role to play in ensuring the health of their community. However, our understanding of the impact of hospital closures is limited, especially when it comes to Black communities. The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship of the closure of the Normandy Osteopathic Hospital to the social determinants of health—specifically access to care and economic stability as it relates to income and wealth generation—for a Black community in one near-North suburb of St. Louis. Ten individuals with a connection to the Normandy Osteopathic Hospital were interviewed using qualitative methods and an oral history protocol. Data was coded and analyzed using thematic analysis. Findings showed layers of disinvestment over time through national and local health care management decisions. Findings also showed that the hospital closure not only had an impact on access to health care, but also on community self-worth and economic wellbeing. As a result of these findings, policy implications and recommendations are explored

Redox-dependent gating of VDAC by mitoNEET.

MitoNEET is an outer mitochondrial membrane protein essential for sensing and regulation of iron and reactive oxygen species (ROS) homeostasis. It is a key player in multiple human maladies including diabetes, cancer, neurodegeneration, and Parkinson's diseases. In healthy cells, mitoNEET receives its clusters from the mitochondrion and transfers them to acceptor proteins in a process that could be altered by drugs or during illness. Here, we report that mitoNEET regulates the outer-mitochondrial membrane (OMM) protein voltage-dependent anion channel 1 (VDAC1). VDAC1 is a crucial player in the cross talk between the mitochondria and the cytosol. VDAC proteins function to regulate metabolites, ions, ROS, and fatty acid transport, as well as function as a "governator" sentry for the transport of metabolites and ions between the cytosol and the mitochondria. We find that the redox-sensitive [2Fe-2S] cluster protein mitoNEET gates VDAC1 when mitoNEET is oxidized. Addition of the VDAC inhibitor 4,4'-diisothiocyanatostilbene-2,2'-disulfonate (DIDS) prevents both mitoNEET binding in vitro and mitoNEET-dependent mitochondrial iron accumulation in situ. We find that the DIDS inhibitor does not alter the redox state of MitoNEET. Taken together, our data indicate that mitoNEET regulates VDAC in a redox-dependent manner in cells, closing the pore and likely disrupting VDAC's flow of metabolites

Assessment of the Water Quality in the Salt River Prior to Its Impoundment in Anderson and Spencer Counties, Kentucky

Monthly water samples were taken and analyzed to determine the water quality of the Salt River in Anderson and Spencer counties Kentucky prior to the river\u27s impoundment. Sediments from the area watershed were analyzed to total acid digestion, barium chloride extraction, and aqueous extraction methods. Rainwater and runoff water were collected and analyzed for major cations and anions from two sites in the watershed. The Salt River at Taylorsville is characterized by hard water with high levels of calcium (33.5-74.8 mg/1), bicarbonate (136-236 mg/l), specific conductance (200-535 μmhos/cm), and sulfate (16.5-71.5 mg/l). Nitrates (0.6-5.7 mg/l), phosphates (0.2-2.4 mg/l), sodium (3.2-20.3 mg/l), and potassium (1.3-5.6 mg/l), are moderate. Iron, manganese, copper, and nitrites are less than 0.5 mg/1. Suspended solids in the river (4.0-l ,684.0 mg/l) are highly variable and directly related to fluctuations in discharge. Sediments from the Salt River Basin are high in potassium (12.4-213.3 mg/g) and iron (23.4-135.1 mg/g), with moderate levels of calcium (0.8-45.7 mg/g), sodium (4.5-10.5 mg/g), magnesium (3.2-6.3 mg/g), and phosphate (1.3-15.3 mg/g). Approximately 10% of the total ionic composition of these sediments is exchangeable and may be extracted with barium chloride. Calcium (309-3,292 μg/g), was the most readily adsorbed cation, with lower levels of potassium (17.6-490.5 μg/g), sodium (12.9-458.1 μg/g), and magnesium (89.4-266.2 μg/g). In the aqueous extractions, calcium (18-486 μg/g), potassium (16.6-69.5 μg/g), sodium (11.1-30.8 μg/g), and magnesium (6.6-68.7 μg/g) comprised about 10% of the exchangeable fraction. Ranges of rainwater ions from the Salt River Basin were: sulfate (8.3-27.8 mg/l), calcium (0.3-10.7 mg/l), potassium (0.4-15.4 mg/l), sodium (0.0-0.7 mg/l), and magnesium (0.1-2.8 mg/l). Ionic composition and sediment yield of runoff water was variable and was related to magnitude of rainfall and runoff sampler placement. Ranges for selected constituents at the two samplers near Taylorsville were: suspended solids (44.0-8,808.0 mg/l), potassium (1.1-84.0 mg/l), magnesium (l.5-7.1 mg/l), calcium (9.5-33.0 mg/l), and sodium (0.6-3.0 mg/l). Calcium and bicarbonate in the Salt River originate from weathering of calcite, although mole ratios of these two ions greater than 1:2 suggest that weathering of magnesium carbonates also contributes bicarbonate to the water. Carbonate equilibrium calculations using field pH and ionic strength suggest calcium is at saturation in the Salt River. High levels of sulfate in rainwater indicate some of this anion may be introduced into the area watershed by atmospheric precipitation

Rationale, design and study protocol of the ‘Strong Families Start at Home’ feasibility trial to improve the diet quality of low-income, ethnically diverse children by helping parents improve their feeding and food preparation practices

There is an urgent need to create effective interventions that help parents establish a healthy diet among their children early in life, especially among low-income and ethnically and racially diverse families. U.S. children eat too few fruits, vegetables and whole grains, and too many energy dense foods, dietary behaviors associated with increased morbidity from chronic diseases. Parents play a key role in shaping children\u27s diets. Best practices suggest that parents should involve children in food preparation, and offer, encourage and model eating a variety of healthy foods. In addition, while parents help to shape food preferences, not all children respond in the same way. Certain child appetitive traits, such as satiety responsiveness (sensitivity to internal satiety signals), food responsiveness (sensitivity to external food cues), and food fussiness may help explain some of these differences. Prior interventions to improve the diet of preschool children have not used a holistic approach that targets the home food environment, by focusing on food quality, food preparation, and positive feeding practices while also acknowledging a child\u27s appetitive traits. This manuscript describes the rationale and design for a 6-month pilot randomized controlled trial, Strong Families Start at Home, that randomizes parents and their 2-to 5-year old children to either a home-based environmental dietary intervention or an attention-control group. The primary aim of the study is to explore the feasibility and acceptability of the intervention and evaluation and to determine the intervention\u27s preliminary efficacy on child diet quality, feeding practices, and availability of healthy foods in the home

Examining the Relationship between Community Orientation and Hospital Financial Performance

A community orientation strategy may be a socially responsible way for hospitals to simultaneously improve financial performance and community health, in accordance with the Affordable Care Act. Using data from the AHA Annual Survey, AHRF, and CMS Cost Reports, this study examined the association between hospital community orientation and three measures of financial performance, and whether that relationship differs for some types of hospitals. The analysis revealed that hospital community orientation was positively associated with total margin and that not-for-profit hospitals engaging in higher levels of community orientation experienced lower operating margins, on average, relative to for-profit hospital